Created by Robert S. Levinson
(1936-2018)
It’s 1938, and the world is tottering slowly but helplessly towards World War II, but former LAPD detective-turned-MGM fixer CHRIS BLANCHARD has other things on his mind. Namely, how to clear actress Marie McDaniels of murdering her husband in the noirish, Chandleresque A Rhumba in Waltz Time (2011).
Along for the ride are some Nazi sympathizers, actors Tyrone Powell and George Raft, director George Cukor, gangster Bugsy Siegel and a Munchkin from The Wizard of Oz (why not?).
Fans of the similarly-themed but short-lived TV show City of Angels from way back in 1976, or Stuart Kaminsky’s Toby Peters series which also drops names like the author is getting paid by the pound, ought to get a kick out of this one.
I sure did.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert S. Levinson (1936-2018) was the best-selling author of the Neil Gulliver and Stevie Marriner series, as well as several other thrillers (including one featuring private security agent Josh Wainwright), while his short stories appeared regularly in Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock mystery magazines. He was a Derringer Award winner, won the Ellery Queen Readers Award recognition three times, a frequent Shamus finalist (and one-time winner), and was regularly included in several “Year’s Best” anthologies. He resided in Los Angeles with his wife, Sandra, and Rosie, a “loving Besenji mix.”
He was a tireless promoter of the Southern California chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, a ray of sunshine at many a mystery convention and just a fun and generous guy. I’ll miss him.
NOVELS
- A Rhumba in Waltz Time (2011) | Buy this book
SHORT STORIES
- “In the Land of Make-Believe” (July/August 2013, AHMM)
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
